Bruno Fernandes has revealed former team-mate Antonio Di Natale taught him "how to hit the ball" during an important time in his career with Udinese.

The current Manchester United captain spent three seasons with Udinese in Italy, before a move to Sampdoria preceded a return to his native Portugal with Sporting CP.

He made 86 Serie A appearances with Udinese, scoring 10 goals and providing 11 assists between 2013-14 and 2015-16.

Fernandes' time at the club coincided with that of Di Natale, who spent the majority of his career with Udinese after joining from Empoli in 2004.

Di Natale scored 209 goals in 445 Serie A games, the sixth-most in the competition's history, behind Silvio Piola (274), Francesco Totti (250), Gunnar Nordahl (225), Jose Altafini and Giuseppe Meazza (both 216).

Fernandes, meanwhile, was named Premier League Player of the Season for 2025-26, and he credited Di Natale, and Udinese, with playing a key role in his development.

"It's about not thinking too much," when asked about the reasons for his impressive form by ESPN.

"I think that, obviously, it's work, it's training, and also something that has been born with me a bit since my childhood, which has always been one of my attributes, the pass and the shot.

"But with that came a lot of work. I remember my time in Italy, which was difficult for me.

"In the first year at Udinese, I had been signed from the Italian second league and I arrived thinking; 'I was signed for €5m, which at the time was a lot of money, I'm going to play.'

"And I ended up having a year, four months there, where I had to train a lot, work a lot. And I had two coaches who trained with me separately, technical coaches, so to speak, who made me even better.

"With all this, I also had Di Natale, who taught me how to hit the ball, how to position the body, how to take the steps before hitting the ball, the positioning of the goalkeeper and the positions where we are shooting."

Fernandes is currently with Portugal's squad, as they prepare to face Nigeria in a friendly on Wednesday before taking on DR Congo in their World Cup opener on June 17.